Professor Brian Fitzgerald has been appointed director of Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre which is headquartered at the University of Limerick (UL). He replaces Professor Mike Hinchey following an eight year term of office.

Roscommon born Professor Fitzgerald was formerly chief scientist at Lero and has been involved with the Science Foundation Ireland supported national research centre since its inception in 2005, apart from a spell as vice-president research at UL from 2008-2011.Prior to taking up an academic position, Professor Fitzgerald worked in the software industry for over a decade in a variety of sectors including finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and bespoke software development in Ireland, Belgium and Germany.

“Brian brings to the role valuable industry as well as academic experience,” commented Professor Don Barry, president, UL. “He is a pioneer in research into open source software and is widely recognised as a global leader in the study of software development processes and methods.”

Professor Mike Hinchey retains his role as professor of software engineering at UL and will continue to be involved in Lero as a co-principal investigator and leader of research in autonomous and adaptive systems. He is also involved in a number of international roles including current president of IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) which was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO.

Professor Barry paid tribute to Professor Mike Hinchey’s contribution. “Mike has played a central role in developing and leading Lero and leaves it well placed to advance its position as one of the leading software research centres in the world.”

Lero is a truly national research centre accessing leading software researchers from Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin and University of Limerick.

Bio Prof Brian Fitzgerald
Brian has been a Science Foundation Ireland principal investigator (PI) since 2002. He was one of the pioneers of research into open source software and is widely recognised as a global leader in the study of software development processes and methods.

He was one of the founding PIs in Lero – the Irish Software Research Centre where he has been a researcher since its inception apart from a period from 2008-2011 when he served as vice-president research at the University of Limerick. Since 2013, he has been chief scientist in Lero, during which time, following a very competitive process, Lero was established as one of 12 SFI national research centres in Ireland.
He also holds an endowed professorship, the Frederick Krehbiel II chair in Innovation in Business & Technology, at the University of Limerick.

Prior to taking up an academic position, he worked in the software industry for about 12 years, in a variety of sectors (including finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, bespoke software development) in a number of countries (Ireland, Belgium, Germany).
See video: https://youtu.be/5LnVxX2YIhg

About Lero
Lero (http://www.lero.ie) is a global leader in software research. It combines the best in Irish software talent by bringing together researchers from Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin and University of Limerick. It is funded by Science Foundation Ireland as well as by contracts from Irish and international technology corporations.